The Advantages and Disadvantages of A Mechanical Keyboard

March 18, 2019

In the last few years, mechanical keyboards have gained more attention as gamers and typists look for higher-quality keyboards. Gaming keyboards have become quite sophisticated and often feature mechanical switches. The dominance of membrane keyboards is slowly being called into question as more people rediscover this classic technology. So what are the advantages of a mechanical keyboard? And what disadvantages it has?

Advantages

Longer Lifespan

Mechanical keyboards have a significantly longer life span. Most of the mechanical switches are tested for 30 to 70 million key presses. Common membrane keyboards only offer a life span of about 5 million key presses.

No Wear Out

Mechanical switches do not only last longer, but they also hardly wear out. Even after several years, typing on a mechanical keyboard almost feels like on the first day. There are no clattering keys or keys getting stuck.

Improved Typing Experience / Feedback

A mechanical switch offers way more tweaking options than a simple rubber dome. So it’s not really surprising, that there are a lot of different switch types with various characteristics.

Some switches have a detectable actuation point, some switches offer additional acoustic feedback. There are switches optimized for gaming and there are switches optimized for typing. More about that can be found in the Switch Types article.

High Stability / Robustness

Mechanical keyboards are significantly more heavy than membrane or scissor keyboards. Therefore, they also have more stability and won’t shift so easy.

Anti-ghosting

Compared to the membrane keyboard, the mechanical keyboard has more anti-ghosting keys up to 104-key anti-ghosting.

Disadvantages

Sound Level

Mechanical keyboards are usually a bit louder than other keyboards, especially the mechanical keyboard with BLUE switches. If that’s a problem for you, you can either choose one of the silent mechanical keyboard models or use O-Rings to decrease the sound level of your keyboard.

High Price

Mechanical keyboards are more expensive than most membrane keyboards. But you should consider it as an investment – if you treat your keyboard well, you won’t need a new one for quite some time. And another good news is that with more producers, the mechanical keyboard becomes much cheaper than before. You can spend less than $30 to get one. Of course, it won't be as good as a name brand, but it is still better than a membrane keyboard with the same price.

High Weight

More weight benefits the stability, but it also makes transporting the keyboard a bit less comfortable. Additionally, the weight can be annoying, if you want to put the keyboard on your lap.